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Getting your Boyz safely across the board to give the enemy a good kickin' can sometimes be tricky.
So I thought I'd compile some thoughts on the many transport options available, and some of the upgrades they can take.

If you want your Boyz to charge as quickly as possible, or stay in their ride and shoot, there's an option here for you

Please feel free to add anything missed, or disagree with what's here!

Transports

Trukk
The good old Trukk. They're cheap, they're Assault Vehicles, they're made out of Explodium. Their role is mainly the first turn dash, bomb forward and Flat Out. If they only get one turn of movement then they've done their job and the boyz should be ready for a turn 2 charge.
Of course no one likes a Trukk exploding before it's moved, and that's their downside. Of course vehicles are more durable this edition, with a wreck more likely than an explode. Even the new Ramshackle rule helps it survive longer.

Battlewagon
What's not to love? Solid Front armour, large Transport Capacity, decent price. It really is a solid Transport option. Not much more to say, point it at Tau and try not to expose that long Side or Rear armour.

Looted Wagon
Often overlooked. But if you have a heavy support slot going spare, it's worth looking at.
Think of it as a Trukk, but with better armour. Cost is about the same as a Trukk with Ram. If used purely as a Transport then the “Don't Press Dat” rule really won't bother you.

Mekboy Junka (Dread Mob / IA:8)
Lots of options, but Transport might not be it's best roll. Can be quite expensive compared to other options. You'll always want to upgrade it's armour, otherwise you might as well take the cheaper Looted Wagon.
As a pure Transport you're better off looking at other vehicles, but supporting a group of transports with a KFF is a nice option. Or just cover it with Gunz and forget it has a Transport Capacity..

Warkopta (Dread Mob / IA:8)
Basically a Trukk, with a faster Flat Out move and can move over terrain. But more importantly, it can Jink! Jinking has no downsides in terms of transportation, the unit can still embark/disembark without penalty and can still fire if being used as a Gunboat. Only the vehicle's shooting is effected.
Takes up a Fast Attack slot, but can form a Squadron. Twice the cost of a Trukk but with a 4+ cover save and better movement, makes it worth it's points.
Get the boyz across the field or fill full of Tankbustas. Extra points for style!

Big Trakk (IA:8)
An armoured Trukk! AV12 offers some decent protection for it's points. Not fast like a Trukk, it's better suited for units that wish to stay inside and shoot – like Tankbustas.
Stick to combat speed so your embarked unit can fire, and gain re-rolls for terrain. Takes up a Heavy Support slot, but can be taken as a squadron of up to 3. If you like to spam Tankbustas, this can be a great option for them.

Gunwagon (IA:8)
The Battlewagon-lite. These are very much like the Big Trakks, but with a nice AV13 front. Slightly smaller Transport Capacity, but can mount a Big Gun with out reduction. Can also be taken as a squadron of up to 3. As before, great option for units that want to stay inside and shoot.
Half the cost of a Battlewagon, half the transport. If you're not filling up the Wagons capacity, consider these instead.

Big Squiggoth (IA:Apocalypse)
Not a vehicle, but an angry giant Squig! It's tough and won't be one-shotted. Only instant death weapons will worry it. Also it can't explode, so is a fairly safe way for Orks to travel.
It's slow moving, so not suited for Orks that want to get into combat. For shooting units like Tankbustas and Flashgitz, this is a great transport! It's decent in combat too!


Upgrades

Red Paint Job.
Not really worth it now it only effects Flat Out moves. It's only really the Fast transports that will be going Flat Out, and 1” won't make much difference to them.

Reinforced Ram.
Great upgrade! It's amazing for Trukks, as you can hide and move through cover with relative safety. Also allows them to Tank Shock if they're still alive after dropping off the Boyz, which is often well worth it. Allows your Trukk to Ram at Str6 and your Wagon at Str9.
Big Trakks can avoid this, but really all other Transports should be getting this every time.

Stikkbomb Chucka
Since pretty much every unit in the Codex has Stikkbombz already, this is pretty useless.
It does have one use, in that the vehicle also counts as having Stikkbombz, meaning it now has a 8” Str3 Blast attack. Trukks can move 12” and fire 2 weapons, but only has 1. With this upgrade it now has 2! Not the best weapon in the world, but if you have 5pts spare and you fancy a laugh, a grenade launcher on a trukk might be worth it.

Extra Armour.
Worth it on the larger vehicles, such as wagons, to keep them moving. Trukks are either moving or dead, so might be worth avoiding here as it isn't the cheapest upgrade.

Grot Riggers.
Again not worth it for smaller vehicles. It's basically a Mek Repair roll, but not as good.

Wreckin' Ball.
With a tiny range it won't see much use unless you're tank shocking a unit. It can be an option for a Battlewagon if it's going to be in the middle of the enemy. You should always have at least one weapon on your Wagon to eat “Weapon Destroyed” rolls, so why not have this as your weapon? It's not competative, but if you have some points spare, why not grab some of the more fun upgrades?

Boarding Plank.
Not a cheap upgrade, so avoid for the lighter Transports. Great for the slow moving Mega Armour units in a Wagon though.

Grabbin' Klaw
Won't see much use, unless you like Ramming tanks with your Wagons. But for 5pts you never know. It's main advantage is that it makes your Wagon look scary as hell! Hilarious when used on Knights and Super Heavies.

Deff Rolla.
Not what it used to be. Most people will say never take it, but it does still have it's uses. First off, it's a Reinforced Ram (and Rams are great!). It only causes hits when the enemy makes a “Death or Glory” attack, and is actually a great deterrent for this. If you enjoy Tank Shocking, but hate that one Meltagun wrecking your wagon, then it becomes useful.
If it's a free option (like on some Forgeworld vehicles) then there's no reason not to take it. It still looks awesome and Orky, but most players will only take it if it's already stuck on their model.

'Ard Case.
Pretty much avoid this. It takes away the Assault Vehicle rule, and greatly limits fire points. Not a good deal for a Transport. If you're sticking a giant gun on your Wagon or Junka, and not transporting anything, then maybe consider it.

I don't play Orks but for the Battlewagon I would highly recommend a Rokkit Launcha/Big Shoota (would take Rokkit personally). Having some weapon will make it's points back when a Wagon gets penetrated and the result is Weapon Destroyed. No-one likes an immobilised transport :/

I think if I were to play Orks, I'd have Boyz in the Wagon and MANz in the Trukk - their armour save should be able to handle explosions and the Trukk can get them 24" up the table. Can one say SPEEDFREAKZ?!

Thanks for the overview! though i agree and am aware of basically everything here, its nice to see fellow ork players doing this sort of thing to help out the freshly grown grots

Nice post Grendel,

Excellent info and not a lot missing. Personally, I am starting to lean towards the warkoptas and gunwagons.

I like trukks, but in general as you mentioned, they dont normally last the turn. They also mean that if you are putting units like tankbustas in they become prime targets. However, for a little higher price you can bring 2-3 warkoptas, load the front ones with just your normal trukk boyz, then the final of the squadron can be carrying something like tankbusta's. This provides you not only a buffer, in terms of warkoptas with boyz in the way, but also a jink save, which doesn't prevent the tankbustas shooting. To top it off, the warkoptas also carry TL deffguns, so thats 3-9 Str 7 shots, pop open a transport and assault with ya boyz? yes please!

I have yet to try this, but I think forcing them to pick between shooting though a whole squadron to get to your tankbustas or picking another target is going to be a hard choice. Even at 2HP with a 4+ thats pretty close to a 3HP trukk.

I then also think the same logic applies to the gunwagon, I mean its AV 13,12,10, yet half price compared to a BW. Yes it carries less models, but pack them with either flash gitz, lootas with shoota boyz in the front gunwagon and you have a convoy that protects your shooty units.

On top, as you mentioned, sticking a big gun on doesn't reduce capacity, so id go with 3 lobbas in a 3 vehicle squadron. As the barrage rule allows you reliably make use of all 3, which is fine as in a squadron you have to shoot at the same target.

I mean for a lobba your looking at around 25 pts for each with added gretchin and ammo runt, So for an extra trukk cost you can add transport capacity for a shooty unit and it can move.

I have 3 gunwagons almost ready for my next game so il let you know how it plays out

Solar Shock wrote:
I have 3 gunwagons almost ready for my next game so il let you know how it plays out

Nice, looking forward to hearing how they do
It's such a shame Forgeworld no longer sell the Gunwagon model. I'll have to do some scratch building.

I'm really wanting to try the Warcopta soon. A 30" move turn one is nice, and if you're lucky and get night fighting, a 3+ cover save!

Nice writeup.

 grendel083 wrote:

Trukk
The good old Trukk. They're cheap, they're Assault Vehicles, they're made out of Explodium. Their role is mainly the first turn dash, bomb forward and Flat Out. If they only get one turn of movement then they've done their job and the boyz should be ready for a turn 2 charge.

It depends. For example, i play footsloggas and have just one truck full of 'ardboyz. The thing with footsloggas is that you don't have to rush as if you're playing speedfreaks. This offers extra layers of tactical flexibility.

You can just hide a single truck out of los till the time is right - it's way easier than hiding a wagon or a warkopta; not sure about a big trakk, think it's roughly the size of a truck, so might work here too.

Furthermore, you can just reserve your truck. It's not expensive and is not carrying something too costly in general. A ram truck full of 'ard boyz + pk/bp nob + slotless mek are 200 pt exactly. The highest i've gone with a single truck. You won't miss it too much for target saturation early on and this way you save your truck from something like a long ranged alpha-strike in an open field when you get unlucky with deployment zone or opponent. Won me a few games actually. Wave serp + seer council eldar on an open map and IK with pod melta marines.

And finally, it's a dedicated transport that can get obsec. That's quite handy. 24' moving obsec unit can alone secure you victory when you get Domination or something like this. Remember that many people score with non-obsec units like heavy support.

True, I did only give one way of using the Trukk.

Thanks for expanding, and very valid points too!

Always happy to here alternative ways of using things, keep it up

Transport squadrons worry me. I would feel a little beardy gaming the squadron rules with transports like that. Then, I feel like it would fail me when some opponent glances them off the board easily with a strong shooting unit with ignores cover. Feels lose/lose to me. At least with a truck my opponent is shooting 35 points and stranding the contents, which is not much over 100 points in any list I run. I can't imagine what some marker lights and missile sides might do to some very expensive contents in one round of shooting against the coptas carrying 150 point's each in a 65 point transport times three.

I like the sound of the gun wagon though. Almost interested enough to find those rules.

Edit; auto correct on phones will mean the end of the world one day you heard it here first.

Thanks for the read Grendal

 Rismonite wrote:
Transport squadrons worry me. I would feel a little beardy gaming the squadron rules with transports like that.

I get where your coming from, but how is using the rules as stated any different from necron players using pylon star and using summoned units underneath a beam to multiply hits on further units? or any other stupid cheese. Its no different to burying a special weapon in the middle of a mob or putting a good save IC at the front.

Then, I feel like it would fail me when some opponent glances them off the board easily with a strong shooting unit with ignores cover. Feels lose/lose to me. At least with a truck my opponent is shooting 35 points and stranding the contents, which is not much over 100 points in any list I run. I can't imagine what some marker lights and missile sides might do to some very expensive contents in one round of shooting against the coptas carrying 150 point's each in a 65 point transport times three.

If you had 2 trukks one with boyz in and one with flash gitz in, the tau are just gona shoot off your flash gitz unit first, even in the case where they then don't have enough firepower to then finish the other trukk you haven't gained anything spectacular other than a trukk of boyz. I do understand your points, but I think they will have advantages and disadvantages in every circumstance, and stating a case where the squadron is up against an opponent who literally does have the tools to do what you said sorta is like saying rock beats scissors, but ignoring that scissors beats paper.

I think your right in that there is quite a lot of High str, cover ignoring weapons out there, serpents, Tau and so forth, but equally for a rush list, you've got a 30" first turn movement, as with trukks, they aren't always intended to survive, but they provide some varying tools. I'll let you know how it goes aren't many tau players in my meta luckily, but quite a few eldar.

I like the sound of the gun wagon though. Almost interested enough to find those rules.
Edit; auto correct on phones will mean the end of the world one day you heard it here first.
Thanks for the read Grendal

Google, dred mob PDF. Its the update, it doesn't have the gunwagon, which is IA:8, but thats also pretty easy to find I think the gunwagons do have some good potential, especially considering most people go.... I have X unit, my transports available are a trukk or a BW. Ones very cheap and low AV, the other is expensive and high AV. The gunwagon is such a good middle ground imo, with plenty of decent options. less capacity than a trukk (10), but isn't costing nearly 50% of the unit cost on top.

I see you partially recommended the wrecking ball. I like it because of it's high strength, but it has a (IIRC) 3" range and uses the Orc's BS of 2 to hit. It seems a bit more prudent to put something else with higher volume or range. Still looks good on the model, and might be fun to have a low-point trukk immobilize a Devilfish or LRBT.

 Parity wrote:
I see you partially recommended the wrecking ball. I like it because of it's high strength, but it has a (IIRC) 3" range and uses the Orc's BS of 2 to hit. It seems a bit more prudent to put something else with higher volume or range. Still looks good on the model, and might be fun to have a low-point trukk immobilize a Devilfish or LRBT.

Aye true, it all depends on what you're using it for.
In that example, a rushing Battlewagon. So Flat Out moves until it drops off it's unit close to the enemy. Until then you're not really shooting, just have a weapon to eat "weapon destroyed" results.

At this point if my wagon is still alive, I tend to start Tank Shocking the enemy. Herd them like sheep
So being in 3" range isn't that unusual.

But that's only one way to run a Wagon.

And honestly, if I have a few points left over I like to buy a few of the fluffy Ork random Bitz. It's what makes Orks unique

 grendel083 wrote:
just have a weapon to eat "weapon destroyed" results.

And honestly, if I have a few points left over I like to buy a few of the fluffy Ork random Bitz. It's what makes Orks unique

Didn't realise that, it can eat weapon destroyed results is pretty useful in general a BS is half the cost and you could bring two...... but then ofc......"I like to buy a few of the fluffy Ork random Bitz" - This > logic!

Yep, from the Weapon Destroyed result: "This can include vehicle upgrades that are weapons".

And yeah, it's 5 points more - but it's a wreckin' ball!

 grendel083 wrote:
Yep, from the Weapon Destroyed result: "This can include vehicle upgrades that are weapons".

And yeah, it's 5 points more - but it's a wreckin' ball!

exactly, i wished theyd kept more orkiness, like having it hit automatically and then a d6 result, like on 1 it gets entangled and the ork trukk moves along with the enemy vehicle, or that it stripsAV, or it makes it open topped. Bt thats just me wishlisting..

Grenel wpuld ypu take look at my list;http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/636098.page

ive got points to spare and a few uncertainties, like the MA big mek with lootas in a gunwagon. overkill? i mean 75 pts to move and shoot. technically i could keep it still turn 1, as the other wagons moving wont break 4" coherency.
Also not sure about the warboss, i have no waaagh as the bike mek has warlord. Its a very experimental list that is primarily testing unit combos and wagons.

Solar Shock wrote:


exactly, i wished theyd kept more orkiness, like having it hit automatically and then a d6 result, like on 1 it gets entangled and the ork trukk moves along with the enemy vehicle, or that it stripsAV, or it makes it open topped. Bt thats just me wishlisting..

Or makes your enemy's vehicle opentopped!

Traitor space marines have prayed for opentopped rhinos for ten thousand years. But the answer came from Gork And Mork who happily sent them orks with wrecking balls...That worked!

Solar Shock wrote:
Grenel wpuld ypu take look at my list; http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/636098.page

Will do
Looks like a different one

im assuming that if you got a squad of big tracks (as there aren't enough heavy slots for 1 CAD) that you cant split them up again and that they will basically be easier to kill because they are in squadron. So i would take multi CAD with them yes?

also, would people be cool with me using trucks in place of big trakks?

 Tiny_Titan wrote:
im assuming that if you got a squad of big tracks (as there aren't enough heavy slots for 1 CAD) that you cant split them up again and that they will basically be easier to kill because they are in squadron. So i would take multi CAD with them yes?

also, would people be cool with me using trucks in place of big trakks?

Why would they be easier to kill? If they used a huge volume of shots then yes any that are left over move onto the next one, but IMO, thats the good thing. you can force the enemy to shoot through a empty big trakk to get to your juicy targets. If you had a BW, would you pay 50 pts to add 3 more HP that can't affect your current 3 HP? as in if the first 3 HP get an explodes, your BW's original 3 aren't affected. I know it doesn't quite work like that, but you get the idea

You are right, if they hit you enough to wipe two big trakks you'd lose two. But in general thats a lot of shooting. Personally, I am leaning towards taking squadrons of them or gunwagons. Then just saturating the enemy. I mean 3 vehicles for 1 slot? you could bring 9 bigtrakks in 1 CAD. Each with the front one being empty, meaning each squadron has a 'barrier' almost like paying for a shield generator that provides those AV12 cover. They have upsides and downsides. I'd be happy with you using trukks. They are pretty close in size (maybe half an inch short or something, but come on, its not like your actually going to be able to hide something because its 1/2" shorter (and if you can thats most likely a rare occasion) Plus your orks, there gona be going in a straight line in their face!

What do you intend to use them for? Boyz? Because for boyz id say, trukks because they are also fast vehicles, so can flatout further(right?) But you could use 3 big trakks, if you did I'd say you'd want to take multiple squadrons. So like I said before 3x 3 bigtrakks, each front one empty or with grots in or something. Make the enemy realise that he can't just select the vehicle with the highest priority target inside it.


Finally as some really stupid squadron shinanigans, you can pivot for free, squadrons can shoot through each other too, so you could technically 'turtle up' if your against drop pod, meaning you can put them back to back or in a star formation so that in general the nearest face from almost any angle will be the front armour. This also doesn't impede movement in anyway.

True, you can't just shoot the wagon at the back, you need to kill the two in front first.

 Tiny_Titan wrote:
also, would people be cool with me using trucks in place of big trakks?

Personally I'd have no problem in a friendly to try them out.

Using them regularly I think you should try and make them more "Big Trakk"-like.
A Trukk with Battlewagon tracks at the back and a few armour plates would work well and not cost much.

Grendel's solution is a good one.

A trukk typically is just a little shorter than a battlewagon, and a big trakk is simply a vehicle with big tracks instead of wheels. Id do exactly what grendel said and stick some tracks at the back.

Personally; grab some magnets (if you magnetise your already sorted), I prefer big round flat ones for vehicles, stick one to the underside of the trukk at the back, then you can simply have a magnetisable backend. You only need an inch. A simple solution would be a doomwheel look on each side of an inch wide plate. like giant paddles.

But yeh proxy for a little.

Oh Grendel what have you done! I just spent the last 20 minutes browsing ork conversions and now all i want to do is get plasticarding!

Solar Shock wrote:
Oh Grendel what have you done! I just spent the last 20 minutes browsing ork conversions and now all i want to do is get plasticarding!

Ha! I know the feeling. I'm trying to work out how to build Gunwagons, since Forgeworld no longer sell them.

It looks like the Gunwagon model was based heavily on the old Rogue Trader Battlewagon. I've got one of those still, so with a bit of tinkering that's one Wagon! Just need two more...

Hm...So, what about a gunwagon? Is it opentopped?

 koooaei wrote:
Hm...So, what about a gunwagon? Is it opentopped?

It is indeed.

But...it's somewhat cheezy! ~65 pts for a av13 opentopped transport! CSM could only dream of that. And it's even squadronned! Isee some brutal combos involved. Probably the best place for Bully boyz.

Does anyone think a Looted Wagon is competitve? I was thinking:

Looted Wagon: 'Ard case- 3x Skorchas, ram- 72 points for an AV 11-11-10, that ISN'T open topped (not for assault unit)! Safety at last! I was thinking of putting in 10 Tankbustas, then swivel/disembark shooting with it when I get into range. It is MUCH harder to explode, and I think it could fill its role competitvely. Also, if you aren't afraid of explosions, you could just flat out it at the enemy until your Skorchas can demolish. 3 Skorchas for that cheap is a steal. What do people think of this idea?

 koooaei wrote:
But...it's somewhat cheezy! ~65 pts for a av13 opentopped transport! CSM could only dream of that. And it's even squadronned! Isee some brutal combos involved. Probably the best place for Bully boyz.

Problem there is you can't put a character in with the BullyBoyz if you do that.
They have a Transport Cap of 10, and aren't fast. Better suited to mobz that don't plan on getting out I think.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Waaagh 18 wrote:
Does anyone think a Looted Wagon is competitve? I was thinking:

They're often overlooked, but aren't a bad tank at all.
As a gun platform it has a lot of options. Shame they're not fast, as only one of your skorchas will be firing if they move.

koooaei wrote:But...it's somewhat cheezy! ~65 pts for a av13 opentopped transport!

oh Koooaei! we all know orks have been looking for their flavour of cheese since the beginning of time! let em be! let em be!
But yeh its a steal. And my orks intend to steal many.

Do you need an IC with bullyboyz? You could stick 2 of the units in the gunwagons and one in a junka with added armour plates or something, then roll on irrational genius and hope for either extra hull point or the turbothrusta! just for fun.

Ahh grendel my current gunwagon is a chimera with a little plasticard at the back to lengthen it, but I think you could get away with using lengthened/added armour trukks, BW's with a little hacking or in general some other faction vehicles like AM. Shame about the lootedwagon not being fast... but hey.... the errr warkopta.....

its fast...
skimmer...
65 pts and can have a scorcha for free... give it a rattle kannon for 10 pts and use it as a gunship?

Man I swear IA:8 vehicles balls all over the currrent dex vehicles. Apart from the trukk being cheap and DT and the BW being AV14, the IA:8 vehicles seem much more suited for anything other than rush lists.

 grendel083 wrote:

 koooaei wrote:
But...it's somewhat cheezy! ~65 pts for a av13 opentopped transport! CSM could only dream of that. And it's even squadronned! Isee some brutal combos involved. Probably the best place for Bully boyz.

Problem there is you can't put a character in with the BullyBoyz if you do that.

But do you really wana put a character with bully boyz?

So, we can create a cheap av13 wall basically.

A combination of Bully boyz in Wagonz and tankbustas in another squadron will murderise stuff that's not prepared for a cheap av13 wall. Add in some wagonboyz on the flanks so that their huge av12 is more safe and you've got a very tough list to deal with.

Now imagine a KFF/MFF mek riding with a bunch of koptas/bikers behind all that av13 madness in the middle.

I think there's plenty of stuff in our dex that's effective in smaller units.

"Hi, want a game? 1500?"
"sure"
"what ya playing, oh just orks, you?"
"AM" - hehe im gona mow down those hordes with my flamer list and volume of shot blobs

Place your 9 gunwagons on the table, your 6 warkoptas... with your MFF bike mek behind
"thought you played orks?!?"
"prepare to be butchered"

Solar Shock wrote:
"Hi, want a game? 1500?"
"sure"
"what ya playing, oh just orks, you?"
"AM" - Brings 2 full squadrons of wiverns

Place your 9 gunwagons on the table, your 6 warkoptas... with your MFF bike mek behind
"thought you played orks?!?"
"prepare to be butchered"